


Living Well is the Best Revenge

by TheWatcherObserves



Category: Death in Paradise
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Complete, F/M, My First Work in This Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-05
Updated: 2014-02-05
Packaged: 2018-01-11 08:14:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1170768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWatcherObserves/pseuds/TheWatcherObserves
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Camille helps Richard deal with Doug Anderson in a manner Doug Anderson won't forget.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Living Well is the Best Revenge

Descending the jetway, his daughter in one arm and Camille on the other, Richard wanted nothing more than a lukewarm pint of something with a dark, frothy head. Traveling alone he’d have slept for the 9-plus hours it took to fly directly from sunny and sweaty to cloudy and comfortable. In deference to his family’s traveling stamina, however, he’d flown from Saint-Marie to New York to Nuuk, Greenland to London. No flight lasted more than four hours and they’d spent the night in Greenland. He'd intended to leave them at home for this short duration trip.

 

Camille, however, decided Richard’s work travel served a greater purpose; she wanted Richard to show the family London. 

 

Richard loved his family as much as any man could but he thoroughly failed to convince these women in his life that they might present a distraction at Doug Anderson’s appeal hearing.  

* * *

How intentionally damaging a perfectly good liver qualified for a leniency appeal defied Richard’s logic. In Richard's mind, “Dougie’s” incarceration choices of solitary confinement (to protect him) or general population (where former police officer’s absorbed beatings daily) might have influenced Anderson's decision to file an appeal in the first place. 

 

If Doug Anderson won on compassionate grounds, his sentence could go from life for murder and conspiracy to 20 years minus time served. Doug Anderson _could_ regain his freedom in Richard's lifetime - or that of his family.

 

On being informed of the appeal, Poole volunteered as an expert prosecution witness. 

* * *

Ploughing through the airport crowds, they soon found themselves in a taxi headed for their vacation rental. Their luggage preceded them to the property by a day, a concession to Richard’s paranoia regarding lost clothing. Rucksacks handled their over-night needs.

 

At the property Richard’s mother opened the door, grinning broadly as she removed Jasiri from Richard’s arms. Assisting Camille over the high oaken threshold, Richard waited hours for his mother to greet him properly. She’d prepared dinner so Richard forgave her, each forkful of roast beef alleviating his mild irritation at being benignly ignored in favor of his adorable daughter and beautiful wife.

 

Dinner completed and put away, his mother settled her adopted granddaughter in bed after a bath and a story (and the “Twinkle” song from Richard), then retired to her own room; she would keep Jasiri tomorrow while Richard and Camille attended the trial. 

 

Richard assisted a fatigued Camille in preparing for bed then undid her preparation once in bed with her, to her utter satisfaction. Pleasantly sated both slept soundly by 21:30, 5:30 in the afternoon on Saint-Marie.

 

 

* * *

Breakfast smells wafted upstairs as they dressed. Camille would mostly stick with fruits, boiled eggs and croissant. Richard made good on his boast of eating a half-dozen eggs and bangers in a single sitting. Donning his suit jacket while Camille straightened his tie, he assisted her out of the door and into the cab and gave the address in the Strand to the cabbie.  

 

Fifty minutes of quietude marked his mental preparations. Near perfect recall had its disadvantages where Doug Anderson's insults were concerned. 

 

 **_/*_ ** _This is my WIFE we’re talking about!_ **_*/_ **

 

“Richard! Did you hear me? I asked you a question.”

 

“Sorry, sorry... Say that again?”

 

“Never mind. We’ve passed the building.”

 

Camille carefully checked her husband.

 

 **_/*_ ** _OH! I for_ ** _got_ ** _! You don’t know what that’s like, do you?... Never even **had** a _ **_girl_** _friend as far as I remember...”_ **_*/_ **

 

Richard’s eyes closed as his brow knitted, a sure sign of stress and embarrassment. 

 

Pulling up to the Royal Courts of Justice, Richard exited and extended a hand to assist Camille out of the cab in front of the ancient, stately building.

 

 

* * *

Entering the assigned courtroom, Richard thanked British efficiency - having made a special request he found their seats reserved and ready. Unfortunately, the chair placement faced Doug Anderson and his legal team.

 

Doug Anderson bullied Richard Poole from their first day of work together at the Met until Dwayne cuffed him in Honorè. 

 

Camille heard every emasculating word of the beratings Richard endured in his own station on Saint-Marie.

 

Richard sighed, the slight droop of his shoulders evident when they made eye contact.  

 

 _Old wounds run deep_ , she thought. 

* * *

On the witness stand, Richard recited chapter and verse of the heinous murder and conspiracy, eviscerating Anderson’s case facts while never falling prey to Anderson’s predatory stare. 

 

With no questions from the defense, the case closed with Richard’s tour-de-force testimony. 

* * *

 **_/*_ ** _Never been married, have you,_ **_DICK_ ** _?”_ **_*/_ **

 

Making eye contact with Doug Anderson, Camille rose awkwardly from the comfortable chair to greet Richard’s return to his seat. Gently laying a hand on his cheek, she caressed Richard’s lips briefly with her own.

 

“Good job, chér,” she whispered.

 

Richard’s finger instinctively stroked the side of her rounded belly, acknowledging the twins. He balanced her as she lowered herself back into the chair then seated himself.

 

Tomorrow he would take her anywhere and do anything she asked.

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s Note: Richard Poole isn’t necessarily dead; a lot of forensics research and some wild reading from actual case files of various law enforcement agencies (I have family on both sides of the legal business) have convinced me of this. I will be writing the tome that returns Richard to Saint-Marie without breaking TV episode canon (too much) later. Hey! It’s fanfiction, not fan facts.
> 
> In the mean time, here’s my first Death in Paradise fic. I am indebted to every writer on this site - particularly (in alpha order) HeatherTN, katedf, Million_Moments, The Thinking Woman and Willowsticks.
> 
> Comment away; it will only make me better... or at least more determined.


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